Translated material
Jams and seizures
The White House discussed the situation in Leningradka and the Customs Union
In addition to the fact that at yesterday’s government presidium, Vladimir Putin personally addressed the problem of traffic jams on Leningradka , the ministers considered amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses establishing penalties for violating the law “On Trade” and technical regulations for pipeline safety. In addition, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov reported on the launch of the Customs Code of the Union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus (however, the latter has not yet been fully integrated into a single customs space; the code began to operate on the territory of only two countries).First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said that as part of the implementation of the Law “On Trade”, it is necessary to make additions to the Code of Administrative Offenses. It was decided to make fines for violating the provisions of the law fixed, and not as a percentage of the companies' turnover. It is proposed to introduce a fine in the amount of 300 thousand to 1 million rubles. for legal entities and from 10 to 50 thousand rubles. for officials, and also provide for the possibility of disqualification for up to three years. It is worth noting that the law on trade continues to lose its value: the wording enshrined in it was already as soft as possible, monopoly restrictions are minimal, fines may seem serious only at first glance - for large trading companies the amounts are simply meager.
Speaking about the program for the development of air traffic, Vladimir Putin noted that the program for subsidizing passenger transportation to the Far East has worked well, thanks to which, as Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said, domestic airlines have increased their turnover. Mr. Ivanov immediately received instructions to deal with the problem around Sheremetyevo Airport and reported that the Federal Antimonopoly Service had already begun an investigation.
Another item on the agenda was the consideration of draft laws to regulate the activities of the fuel and energy complex. The Ministry of Energy has developed technical regulations for the safety of main pipelines. Vladimir Putin recalled that the most important security issues are currently regulated by various departmental regulatory and technical documents and instructions - in total, up to 80 different documents, many of which are outdated or even contradict each other. As previously reported, it is proposed to establish security zones from 25 to 100 meters for onshore pipelines and up to 500 meters for offshore pipelines. In this territory it will be prohibited to place residential buildings, social institutions, hold events with crowds of people, make fires, and drop anchors and drift on the water surface. The regulations also stipulate requirements for the construction of offshore pipelines; work is now being carried out according to Gazprom’s internal standards, and it is proposed to distribute them at the state level.
The Ministry of Energy yesterday submitted another bill to the government for consideration - “On the State Information System of the Fuel and Energy Complex.” The document provides for the creation of a unified state information system in the fuel and energy sector and regulates the process of providing oil and gas companies with information for this system (so far, companies are doing this incompletely on a voluntary basis).
Vladimir Putin announced another decision, which was then approved at the closed part of the meeting - to provide subsidies to the budgets of the Kirov and Samara regions in the amount of about 1.7 billion rubles. This decision is being made within the framework of the still relevant anti-crisis support for single-industry towns. “We will continue to provide targeted anti-crisis support to specific enterprises and regions as long as it is necessary,” the prime minister said. The head of government also publicly reminded (primarily his deputy and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin) that the Ministry of Finance will have to submit within a week proposals for the implementation of the budget message that President Medvedev delivered the other day.
Igor Shuvalov presented an overview report on the topic of the Customs Union in honor of the first day of the official entry into force of the Customs Code (yesterday the next documents of the legal framework of the union were considered). But the Customs Union cannot fully operate without a decision on a single customs territory - this issue is on the agenda of the meeting of the Interstate Council of the EurAsEC, which will take place on July 5 in Astana. The heads of state will have to decide: a single customs territory of the Customs Union is created from the geographical territories of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan, or whether Belarus will take the necessary steps to fully participate in the union. Igor Shuvalov clarified that in any case, the countries agreed on certain “exemptions” of certain customs names from the uniform rules. For example, Russia will maintain increased customs duties on imported cars.
Vladimir Putin summed up his subordinate’s speech: “I am absolutely convinced that we are doing the right thing. This is Russia’s historical choice - to follow the path of integration with our closest neighbors and partners, to draw closer in the economic sphere, to unify social norms with the states and peoples with which the Russian people have existed for centuries within the framework of a single state. The door is open for such integration and for a deeper degree of integration - anyone who wants to take advantage of it will be able to do so.”